American Entertainment: Starting with playing the role of Little Beaver

Chapter 29 There are always unscrupulous people who want to harm me

"The Voice?"

The next day, at noon, in the cafeteria.

Isabella appeared before Columbus once again.

When that blond figure, looking like a golden retriever, with a smug grin, carrying a plate, and 'naturally' sat down, Columbus was truly...

Some want to laugh.

He reached out and beckoned.

Sure enough, just as he had expected, Isabella pulled a stack of A4 papers from her Hogwarts robes.

To be honest, finishing a story overnight isn't considered fast in the industry.

Because in Hollywood, a story is just a wild idea, and there's no word limit, it's perfectly normal for someone to be able to write down their idea in an hour, find bugs in two hours, and complete the outline in three hours if they have a burst of inspiration.

Only by filling in the characters, confirming the conflicts, and finalizing the details to make them reasonable, can the outline be transformed into a real script. The research time will then increase dramatically. Even experienced writers will need at least three days to do this, while it's impossible to estimate the time it will take for newcomers. Some have even spent a year writing and revising.

So, in less than 24 hours, Isabella came up with a story, which Columbus didn't find problematic.

Furthermore, this speed only proves that you have a desire to express yourself.

But after he saw what Isabella had written—

He immediately narrowed his eyes.

"Did you write this?"

He raised his head.

He cast a surprised glance at the girl sitting opposite him.

"Yeah~"

Isabella nodded and said, "Director, is there a problem?"

"Just tell me directly, I can accept it."

Isabella genuinely felt that her writing wasn't good enough, after all, it was her first time writing.

But her admission caused deep furrows to appear on Columbus's forehead.

"question?"

"Hmm... there's nothing wrong with the story you wrote—"

"You moved the setting from the east coast to the English countryside? You made the protagonist a girl who loves music but doesn't get a good education? Even the church choir tells her no? This is the most realistic way to write, but it also highlights the contradictions."

"Then, you made localized modifications to the protagonist's family members?"

"My sister loves art and longs for Europe, but she is frustrated and unfulfilled? This is a creation that is close to historical facts."

"While retaining the core of road movie—a exploration of the soul—it also incorporates competitive elements from commercial films? The Voice's competition format is based on cities, counties, and countries?"

"Oh--"

"Isa—"

"Your story is very good—very good—"

"You really haven't studied writing?"

Yes ~
In Columbus's eyes, Isabella's new story was a standard Hollywood idea.

Because all Hollywood movies, whether commercial or award-winning, always like to include some discussion of social issues. This discussion may not be fully explored, or you could say that they just raise questions without solving them. But as long as they raise questions, their movies will seem profound and give the world a sense of edutainment.

Furthermore, the film becomes contradictory as soon as you raise a question.

This will naturally create dramatic conflict in your storyline.

For example, when Isabella incorporated the choir into the background, Columbus even had a dialogue popping into his mind—

The protagonist of the story wants to participate in a singing competition?
Okay, people who think she's not good enough will say that you haven't even received basic vocal training, so don't waste your time.

Then, blah blah blah, he mentioned that so-and-so from the village choir also went, and that he was talented and had a teacher.

By writing it this way, wouldn't all the villains and their introductions from the first stage be revealed?
Furthermore, this kind of storytelling will make your shots look very concise!
Because the villains are not designed separately but integrated into the background, when the narrative time of a film is very limited, it is impossible for them to be like other literary works, where a villain suddenly appears out of nowhere and then slowly tells the story of its origins.

Then, the protagonist's sister's longing for Vienna can also be expanded upon in Columbus's view—

The protagonist's sister hopes to fly from the British Isles to Europe, which can be considered a leap in her dreams.

The older sister's failure can be used as a reason for her opposition to the protagonist.

The older sister, having witnessed the cruelty of the outside world and had her edges smoothed out by reality, conveyed the idea of ​​'lying down' to the protagonist when both she and the protagonist were from the countryside.

'We lack resources, we can't compete with those who started from a higher point, so instead of working hard, we might as well just lie around.'

The feeling of dejection came over me immediately.

After some struggle, the older sister encouraged the protagonist to participate in the competition and gave her a painting.

This could be written as the older sister rekindling her hope for life.

Her sister's sunny disposition influenced her.

And isn't this kind of growth of the older sister exactly the kind of spiritual tempering that road movies want to explore?
Moreover, this growth is integrated into the main storyline!

To reiterate, the narrative time in a film is limited. You can create multiple subplots, but these subplots must be integrated into the main plot. In simpler terms, you can tell multiple stories, but all of them must serve the growth of the protagonist. This doesn't mean that ensemble films can't be made, but rather that the primary principle of commercial films is to ensure that the audience understands and enjoys the film.

But all of the above was just the first surprise Columbus noticed.

What's the second surprise?

That's rhythm.

The reason he felt the original script was bad was because the story in the original script was too bland.

This is also a problem with road movies, which are about spiritual journeys and don't have much of a pacing.

Whether or not it can move people depends entirely on the audience's understanding.

So, what did Isabella do?
She retained the narrative framework of the redemption journey from point A to point B in the original script.

But at the same time, she divided the journey into three smaller parts.

The first part is about going from a rural home to a city-level singing competition;

The second part is the transition from city-level singing competitions to county-level singing competitions;
The third category is from county-level singing competitions to national competitions.

When the spiritual redemption emphasized in road movies can be shown in segments, the pacing of a film becomes much easier to control!

For example, upon seeing this design, the basic rhythm of the film immediately came to Columbus's mind—

The movie opens with an eight-minute introduction to the main family, set in a rural cottage. The chaos and mishaps at home are used to showcase their loser lives. The father is a self-help lecturer? Okay, you're unemployed now.

During this process, the main character doesn't need to appear. After showing everyone's failures, the main character, full of hope for the future, appears like a little sun. She wants to participate in a singing competition, but faces skepticism.

The contrast emerged, the contradictions arose, and the goal was set.

After all the bickering, whoever dotes on the protagonist the most will step in and make the final decision. Then, starting from the sixteenth minute, the film can show the road trip from the English countryside to the city. This part of the story can even incorporate elements of the First Industrial Revolution.

The primitiveness of the countryside and the modernization of the city provide the best visual contrast.

And once the contrast appears, how much more will there be reflection on the past and discussion about life?

For example, older people like to say how great Britain was in the past, and conservative family members don't want to leave their homes.

But young people are eager to go out and see the world, and this can lead to arguments.

The whole process doesn't need to last too long; it can even be turned into a scene with a bitter breakup, because when the movie reaches the 24-minute mark, after the race in the city, the whole family will tacitly cheer for the protagonist.

They can use the language of film to depict a warm and inviting home!

They can use the language of film to depict everyone's kindness!

At this point, if you really want to highlight a person's spiritual growth, then just focus the camera on the first family member who supports the protagonist's participation in the competition, and let the transformation blend into the story!

Hollywood movies emphasize pacing because human energy is limited.

A scene can become tiring to watch for too long, and a story can become boring after being heard too many times. Therefore, Hollywood projects are created by cutting shots precisely at specific times, so that the audience can gain new information before losing interest in a scene or event.

This operation is not difficult for those who have learned it.

But for those who haven't studied it...

If you have talent, you can write even without formal training.

But having talent is a ridiculous thing in Hollywood.

Those who can make money in Hollywood are all talented.

Many people spend their entire lives trying to write a script that will gross over 100 million at the box office.

Even among geniuses, there are differences.

And now...

Isabella adds rhythm to road movies using an escalation-style approach?
"Isa, I'm asking you seriously this time, are you sure you wrote this story?"

Columbus looked at Isabella with a serious expression. "Did you come up with the three-part structure of The Voice yourself?"

"Was it your idea to use a race format to divide the road trip into different parts?"

This was certainly not Isabella's idea!

As a time traveler, the idea for "The Voice" must have come from memories of his previous life!

Last night, after thinking about singing competitions, Isabella felt that the regional competition format of "The Voice" from her past life was quite suitable for a movie, so she copied it. At the time, she just thought the combination of "The Voice" and a road movie was interesting, but now, judging from Columbus's reaction... this idea seems pretty good?

Is this really great?

Isabella wanted answers.

"of course."

Columbus nodded.

"Oh--"

Isabella was delighted and said with a smile, "Director, I can assure you that the story you are seeing now is all written by myself, but I also admit that the competition process has been borrowed, for example... 'Who Can Be a Millionaire'?"

"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is a well-known British competitive television program.

If I had to describe it, "Happy Dictionary" would be similar.

Contestants who answer 15 questions correctly in a row will win one million pounds.

To appear on television and participate in the competition, you must first pass at least two rounds of selection.

The first round is a telephone Q&A session, and the second round is a live semi-final.

The former refers to the organizer randomly contacting applicants after registration and asking them three questions;
If you answer correctly, you can advance to the semi-finals.

The latter refers to those who qualify for the semi-finals answering questions from the organizers at a designated offline location;

In this round, the highest-ranking contestants will appear on television in order. Although the competition process of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is also an upgrade system and a regional system, and Isabella's "The Voice" is similar to it, you could even say that Isabella copied someone else's competition format, but that doesn't matter, does it?
Not to mention that similar structures are very common in Hollywood.

There are only so many story structures that can be accepted by the public. If similar structures are considered plagiarism, then there's no point in making movies.

Even copying requires some thought!
Simply copying is just picking up scraps from others; you'll never surpass the first person to try something new!
Could the upgrades be combined with the highway?
“Isa, the story you wrote can be divided into four main sections and thirteen subsections in my opinion.”

"It's the kind of film that you can shoot right away once it's written."

Columbus said, "Do you know who the last person was who wrote this rhythm instinctively without formal training?"

"Who?" Isabella really didn't know.

Columbus raised an eyebrow. "James Cameron."

That was his breakthrough film, The Terminator.

"Many people may think that the best thing about Terminator is its special effects, but in fact, the most outstanding thing about that movie is its rhythm. Or rather, if the rhythm is not right, even if the special effects are good, the sense of oppression will not be strong."

The Terminator can actually be considered a horror movie.

Horror movies are all about pacing.

But none of this mattered to Isabella!

She smiled as she listened to Columbus's words.
She admits that everything she's doing right now is rewriting the script, hoping to make a classic work fit her own persona, and she has indeed drawn on many successful examples, but—

Was the final story something she came up with herself?
She created the character designs for all the characters herself, right?

The rhythm Columbus mentioned was a pleasant surprise she stumbled upon, but didn't she spend time and effort thinking about it?

So, when effort yields results, and after the first attempt resulted in treatment comparable to that of truck drivers...

"director."

Can I take your words to mean that you think I'm the next James Cameron?

"Or do you think my story concept can reach the level of Terminator?"

The little girl tilted her head slightly.

He's shameless.

Need to be praised.jpg
"..."

Columbus made a mistake.

Although he was genuinely impressed by Isabella's apparent talent, he hadn't even finished speaking before she started getting cocky.

You became proud way too quickly!

Looking at the girl with that expectant and excited face, Columbus really wanted to give her a good whack.

But after a moment, he gave up.

Putting down the story, he said while eating lunch, "I don't have time to teach you how to expand your writing in paragraphs at noon."

"So come find me tonight, after the show. I can give you half an hour to an hour."

"every day."

Columbus still valued talent.

This decision made Isabella beam with joy.

Although Columbus didn't praise her, how was that any different from a compliment when he decided to teach her how to expand the script?

Not to mention, if Columbus is willing to teach, that would prove that her new project is on the path to success.

However, at the same time, there was one more thing she wanted to say to Columbus—

He magically produced another A4 sheet of paper from his Hogwarts robes.

"Director, I have another idea here, would you like to see it?"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

Columbus was astonished.

At that moment, he genuinely wondered if inspiration was something as common as cabbage for Isabella.
Otherwise, how could one after another keep popping up?
Oh no.

Chinese cabbage is quite scarce in the UK.

That's fine.

Isabella ignored Columbus's surprise and handed him the paper directly.

Then, Columbus saw a song—

"The Climb?"

Yeah~~~
Since the movie is about musical competition, and since Isabella was thinking about "The Voice," how could she possibly overlook the songs? And that's why Isabella was so excited last night.

She discovered that the song "The Climb" she had heard in her past life matched the story she had imagined perfectly.

The Chinese title of "The Climb" is "攀登" (Pan Deng), and it is an inspirational song sung by Miley Cyrus.

The lyrics mean: Life is a tough battle. You will face countless problems. Sometimes you will fail and feel lost, but in the end you must hold your head high and stride forward.

Yes, this song does have a kind of inspirational feel to it.

But that doesn't matter, does it?

Isabella wasn't trying to be preachy; she simply felt that placing "The Climb" in a new story, written from the protagonist's perspective, would make the protagonist seem even more talented. Furthermore, if the song were placed alongside a storyline about a family of losers who eventually succeed through hard work, the film's dramatic tension might be even greater.

When a classic like this was right in front of her, Isabella really wanted to do a good job on this project.

Of course, she admits that she also had some selfish motives.

She has always loved music, but it's hard to make a name for herself in pure instrumental music, so this roundabout approach can be seen as a return to her old profession.
"The Climb" also did very well, going six-platinum singles.

“Okay, Isa, I admit you’re very talented, extremely talented.”

Columbus already knew that Isabella had studied music for many years.

Moreover, after she officially joined the crew, David Heyman even got her a piano specially.

She practices the piano even when she has free time.

Therefore, when inspiration strikes, he expresses it directly, which seemed perfectly normal to Columbus.

but--

"Isa."

Columbus reconciled the inspiration and handed it over again.

"Ok?"

Isabella took the idea and stuffed it back into the inside pocket of her school uniform.

"Being talented is a terrible thing, because talented people are easily lost in praise."

"Oh, director, I understand what you mean now!"

Isabella waved her hand, "I won't be arrogant~"

Isabella truly understood what Columbus meant.

What he really wanted to say was nothing more than "The Tragedy of Zhongyong".

Wow, Chinese is so concise!

Columbus hoped Isabella wouldn't become arrogant and would continue to work hard, and Isabella thought so too.

She was able to write stories that Columbus thought were good because she had a broad perspective from her past life; she could find songs that matched the stories because she had memories from her past life. When all these things came from Charlotte, what did she have to be proud of?
Once she has stood on the shoulders of giants, only by doing things well can she truly achieve success.

Right?

She thought she was very self-aware.

but--

"Oh...Isa...was the director just saying your script was good?"

Columbus had just finished lunch and left.

Immediately afterwards, Isabella was surrounded by a bunch of little radish heads... well... now big radish heads.

Although Isabella had been privately discussing the script with Columbus, what difference was there between them talking about it in the cafeteria and openly plotting to rob a bank? Not to mention, Endeavour had previously approached Isabella openly.

So, everyone in the group knew that Isabella landed a new project after becoming famous, but it wasn't a good fit for her, and then...

"Does Director Chris think your story is worth making into a film?"

Daniel was very curious.

"Oh~ Isha~ please don't tell me that Director Chris thinks your script is usable!"

Rupert was almost in tears, practically begging Isabella for forgiveness. "Otherwise, my mom will scold me again tonight!"

"You know what? Every time you get good grades, my mom says to me that night—"

"Compared to Isabella, you're not even as eye-catching as the fish in the Thames!"

"And then I really wanted to say—"

"There are no fish in the Thames!"

"Hahahaha~"

His silly words drew a burst of laughter from those around him.

The Thames River was declared biologically dead by British experts in the 1950s due to pollution. So, if you're not as eye-catching as the fish in the Thames, it means you're a piece of trash and can't be helped.

"Isa, what kind of story did you write? Can I take a look?"

After laughing, Bonnie asked again.

"Isa, cough, you know... we have a pretty good relationship, right?"

Young Master Ma Fen clenched his left fist, placed it near his mouth, and coughed lightly.

The meaning couldn't be clearer.

When the eager inquiries came crashing down on her, Isabella was truly distressed—

She clearly didn't want to accept praise, and she clearly didn't want to be arrogant, so why did these people still force her to make mistakes?
Sigh, it's so hard to keep a low profile!

There are always unscrupulous people who want to harm me!
In this case--

I'm cold.

I need to put on more clothes!

Wagging its tail~
(End of this chapter)